Sidhu Tudu and Jamuna (names changed) now live in different villages; the former works as a contract labourer while the girl has enrolled in a village school as a Class VIII student.

Sidhu, a resident of Chandipur village, was picked up by the Maoists from the hostel of Beltala High School, 12 km from his home, where he was sent by his poor father so that his son could at least have two square meals a day for free. What the father did not know is that the school was a recruiting ground for Maoists who lured young minds with ideas of rebellion, along with promise of good food.

“My son used to play football very well but was never attentive in studies. When he was 10, I sent him to stay in the school hostel where he would get two meals a day. But, gradually I noticed a change in him. He used to tell me his friends are becoming rebels and they would free tribals’ land from the state,” said Raju Tudu, the 45-year-old father of Sidhu.

“I used to tell him ‘Bonparty’ (a term locals use for Naxals) is there for leading the movement. You need not join them. Once, I went to meet him in his hostel. His friends told me he had gone to jungles to get training in the guerrilla warfare. I returned to my village. My son was just a 12-year-old boy then. After that day, I did not see him for two years. His friends told me he had become a member in the Lalgarh squad,” Tudu added.

In these two years, police raided the village several times in search of Sidhu, but in vain. The boy never came to meet his parents.

It was sometime then that Cupid struck. “I was told I would get good food. They told me I would have to revolt against the exploitation in the tribal land. Under a spell, I joined them. But after I met Jamuna, I dreamt of living a normal life,” Sidhu told The Indian Express over phone from the village where he now works as a daily wage labourer. The boy seemed unwilling to disclose much about his past.

Sidhu’s best friend Sunil Mandi, who appeared in the school’s final examination this year, however, conceded, “Sidhu’s life is at stake after he fled the camp with Jamuna. He is in love with Jamuna. After their leaders came to know about their relationship, they threatened them with dire consequences. So one day, when the squad went for an operation in the Jhargram area and there was an encounter with a police team, the duo fled the spot using the confusion.”

“My brother called me from a booth in Jhargarm and I rushed there and brought him back. I promised him I will arrange everything for their marriage. I got him work. He is far away from this place and this chaos. The girl was also sent to her village in Binpur where she is now studying in Class VIII,” said Sidhu’s brother Ramen Tudu, who is preparing for his graduation examination.